Mexican woman granted asylum for domestic abuse

SAN FRANCISCO 
A Mexican woman who claimed she was beaten and raped for decades by her common-law husband has won the right to stay in the United States in a case that experts say makes clear that domestic violence is valid grounds for asylum.

The Department of Homeland Security found that the case of the woman known only as L.R. met the stringent standard necessary to win asylum. An immigration judge found in her favor on Aug. 4, and the decision was announced this week by her attorneys.

"The point has been made, very loud and clear, that cases such as these involving domestic violence, and even more broadly, gender-based violence against women, are valid cases," said Karen Musalo, L.R.'s attorney and the head of Hastings Law School's Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California. The name of the applicant was withheld to protect her privacy.

What makes this case remarkable is that traditionally asylum has been given to individuals being persecuted by a government; applicants had to show they suffered persecution because of their religion, political beliefs, race, nationality or membership in a particular social group.

Cases such as L.R.'s increase the scope of who may qualify for asylum by expanding the definition of "particular social group." Women who have suffered genital mutilation, or in L.R.'s case, domestic abuse, have been recently deemed "social groups" and granted asylum.

This expanded definition is controversial. Proponents of reduced immigration are wary of decisions that might increase the flow of foreigners into the country.

"If we're going to expand certain categories of asylum from their original definition, then some clarification from Congress is warranted," said Jon Feere, legal analyst for the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports stricter enforcement of immigration laws.

Success in this case will not bring on a flood of asylum applications from battered women, said Pamela Goldberg, who works on asylum jurisprudence for the UNHCR in Washington, D.C.

"There are so many obstacles to fleeing their home countries," said Goldberg. "There is no such thing under asylum law as a blanket, 'say the magic words and you're in' situation."

The issues are complex, said Amy Kudwa, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

"Each case is highly fact-dependent and requires scrutiny of the specific threat an applicant faces," said Kudwa.

Nor does the approval of cases such as L.R.'s make the U.S. unique, said Goldberg. Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, among other countries, recognize domestic violence as valid ground for an asylum claim.

This month's decision ends a long saga that started when L.R. was 19 years old and first met the man who in court documents she describes has her tormentor for most of her adult life.

Court records show years in which L.R. said she lived in terror - routinely beaten, forced into sex, threatened with a gun or a machete.

She was only allowed out of the house to work as a teacher, but her husband diverted her checks and controlled her income. Once, when he found out she was pregnant, he tried to burn her alive by pouring flammable liquid on her bed and setting it on fire. She used a towel to douse the flames and escaped injury.